bonny
adjective
pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.
bonny
American
[bon-ee]
/ ˈbɒn i /
Or
bonnie
adjective
bonnier,
bonniest
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Chiefly Scot. pleasing to the eye; handsome; pretty.
-
British Dialect.
-
(of people) healthy, sweet, and lively.
-
(of places) placid; tranquil.
-
pleasing; agreeable; good.
-
adverb
noun
bonny
1
British
/ ˈbɒnɪ /
adjective
-
dialect beautiful or handsome
a bonny lass
-
merry or lively
a bonny family
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good or fine
a bonny house
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(esp of babies) plump
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dialect considerable; to be reckoned with
cost a bonny penny
adverb
Bonny
2
British
/ ˈbɒnɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bonny
1425–75; late Middle English ( Scots ) bonie, perhaps < Old French bon good + -ie -y 1, perhaps by analogy with jolie jolly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A bonny place, in the local argot, it’s also the birthplace of Donald Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2018
Tara Erraught is a bonny Irish lass who is almost aggressively likable.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2018
Basically, Claire pulls the 18th century equivalent of a #yesallwomen campaign, and celebrates her victory by standing on a buttress and smiling vacantly at some wee bonny children.
From Time ● Aug. 16, 2014
"You're a bonny fellow to frighten children so," one of the regulars admonished him as he finished the tale.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2014
“Not at all—it bears the most gracious message in the world: for the rest, you are not my conscience-keeper, so don’t make yourself uneasy. Here, come in, bonny wanderer!”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Vincenzo Italiano's players held their nerve better in the shoot-out, with Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolo Barella and Ange-Yoan Bonny all failing from the spot for Inter.
From Barron's ● Dec. 19, 2025
In light of the administration’s security strategy, the sale shows “its actions are aligning with its words,” said Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Lee Calvert stands in the living room of her daughter’s home in Bonny Doon, Calif., in May 27.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2025
Calvert makes pottery with her daughter, Nancy Lingemann, and son-in-law, John Lingemann, on May 27, 2025, in Bonny Doon, Calif.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2025
“Anne Bonny, Lady Killigrew, Grace O’Malley—to name only a few.”
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
While some of his ban mots may have grown bonnier in telling, and others may be wholly apocryphal, who can say for sure?
From Time Magazine Archive
“Not a bit, and you never will. You’ve grown bigger and bonnier, but you are the same scapegrace as ever.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
No a better nor a bonnier in a' the parish.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
Ye couldna look better or bonnier though ye were to change your gown and tak’ an hour to do it.
From The Twa Miss Dawsons by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
But a’ things are bonny to young happy eyes, and I daresay they are bonnier to me now, looking back to them over all the long years.”
From Frederica and her Guardians The Perils of Orphanhood by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson
The prams of Britain are filled with the bonniest babies in living memory.
From Time Magazine Archive
So he suggested a cat instead, “the bonniest little cat ye ever did see.”
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
Be Mama's good lassie and help her with all the opening day's work, and you yourself will be the bonniest there.
From The White Queen of Okoyong A True Story of Adventure Heroism and Faith by W.P. Livingstone
How! how!" answered the gaberlunzie, taking the pipes suddenly frae his mouth—"no let ye dance wi' a decent callant, the bonniest hensure o' the hail menyie!
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 4 by Various
"O I hae been east, and I hae been west, An' I hae been far o'er the knowes, But the bonniest lass that ever I saw55 Is i' the bought, milking the ewes."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume IV by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
